Life doesn't always work out the way we planned. Things happen that we have no control over, and circumstances seem overwhelming. I never thought I'd marry an abusive man - a man whose mental demons turned him into two different people. I never imagined being a widow at the age of 38. I never dreamed that one decision could so profoundly change my life and my viewpoint of mental illness. I didn't know how much I still had to learn about myself.